fort monroe

Vietnam

India

Guam

Japan

Indonesia

Soviet Central
Philippines Asia

DEFINITION

A person having origins in any of
the original peoples of the Far
East, Southeast Asia, the Indian
subcontinent, or the Pacific
Islands

"Asian American"
or

it

Asian-American

99

Descriptive

Terms

People prefer Asian American (without hyphen)
because using the hyphen describes foreign affairs
kind of things: "Asian-American trade talks". The
lack of the hyphen stresses that Asian Americans are

not foreigners.

In Washington

state, local and

state lawmakers

are prohibited

from using the

term "Oriental" in

statutes, codes,

rules, and

regulations!

Oriental — A general
rule of thumb is
"Oriental is for rugs,
not people"

[f , / !

America was created and shaped by successive
waves of immigrants and has been regarded as the
"melting pot of the world" ■

First wave: Hispanic
explorers and
European colonizers

Second wave: Shiploads of
Africans to work plantations

Third wave - Asians: Chinese to
work on Pacific railroads;
Japanese, Filipinos, and Koreans
to work sugar cane plantations in
Hawaii

Most recent wave: 1975 saw
Southeast Asian refugees
after fall of Vietnam

1st wave: Explosion of ethnic
Chinese
from Vietnam

2d wave: Vietnamese "Boat
People"

3d wave: "Refugees"

Population Growth — 1995 to 202!

"Wj M

Asian Americans are the fastest-
growing ethnic minority group in
the United States. Currently, half
of all immigrants entering America

are Asian.

Growth Rate
Overall

Growth Rate
1980-1990

Growth Raae
1990-2000

Asian/Pacific

Islander

96.13%

63.24%

Hispanic

53.02%

39.42%

Native American

35.44%

14.42%

African American

11.98%

15.26%

White

4.09%

5.08%

Growth Rate
Among Asians

Growth Rate
1980-1990

Growth Raae
1990-2000

Asian Indian

125.6%

113.4%

Vietnamese

125.3%

89.2%

Korean

134.8%

35.1%

Chinese

104.1%

47.5%

Filipino

81.6%

30.3%

Japanese

20.9%

-9.4%

States With Highest Percentage of
Asians or Pacific Islanders

SOUTHERN EXPLOSION !

Southerners have seen the Asian populations of
their cities explode — some by as much as 600 %

North Carolina has seen its
Asian population swell t
60,000 with 30,000 in the
Durham/Raleigh/ Chapel Hill
area

Atlanta mushroomed
by 593% since 1980

Miami's Asian community
estimate their numbers to
top 60,000 with 60% having
settled there in only the
last five years!

The 350,000 in Houston
make up 11% of the
city's population

11.9 MILLION ASIAN/ PACIFIC
ISLANDERS COMPRISING 4.2% OF
THE TOTAL U.S. POPULATION

Average Household Size:
Asian: 3.79
Hawaiian: 3.84

Non-Hawaiian Pacific Islanders: 4.4
Non-API: 3

While the average Asian/Pacific Islander
(API) family enjoys the highest median
family income, they also have one of the
highest rates of poverty in urban and rural

areas

An estimated 27% of API families earn
approximately 1/4 of the poverty level for a

family of four

In San Francisco, 29% of the API population
live below the poverty line; in New York
City, 43% of API children are born into
poverty; and in Minnesota, API children are
three times as likely (37%) to live in
poverty as other children

Asian Influence on
English

- 1 S i 1

Mandarin
Paddy Field
Pajama
Pariah
Pidgin
Pundit

Asian/Pacific American Business

Ownership

307 Billion Dollars
in Revenue

ASIAN

PROFESSIONALS

IN DEMAND FOR:
Executive Management
Finance and Banking

Entertainment and the Arts

Tiger Woods, Golf

Dr. David D. Ho, AIDS Researcher

Vivienne Tam, Fashion Visionary

Charles Wang, Founder/CEO, Computer Assoc, Ing.
Jackie Chan & Michelle Yeoh, Movie Stars

Brooke Lee, Miss Universe 1997
Ann Curry, News Anchor Woman

t %

Chris Lee, President of Production, Tristar Pictures

Gold Mountain
Radio

Asian

Magazine

Face

Magazine

Hawaii

Herald

DARPAN

Tea Magazine

Very few air conditioners, television sets, or even

pianos are

made in Europe or the U.S. Certainly Asia has a

tremendous

impact on the world arena

Asian Films

Educational Films:

"Filipino Americans: Discovering
Their Past for the Future"

"Maya Lin: A Strong Clear
Vision"

"Starting Over: Japanese
Americans After the War"

fL

ft*

tt

Entertainment Films: -

it y

II 4

The Great Wall
Eat a Bowl of Tea
The Joy Luck Clu

RAN

J m f a#

Seven Samurai
Raise the Red Lantern

Burmese - 500 pounds a year

R CE

Vietnamese - 367 pounds per year

Japanese - 167 pounds annually

Rice now makes up 25 to 80 percent of the calo
diet for half of the world!

Average American has doubled their rice intake
a year. Four out of those 25 pounds of rice that
consume is in beer.

HIGHLIGHTS OF VARIOUS U. S. IMMIGRATION
& NATURALIZATION LAWS AFFECTING ASIANS

»»*

Note
pages on
numerous
charts
provide
additional
informatio
n